July 19, 2003
By Larry McShane
Associated Press Writer
Casper Star-Tribune
New York

In late June, Corinne Turner walked into a Utah discount store and spent
99 cents on canvas wallpaper. She opened her purchase to find - surprise!
- five pieces of art worth $6,000.

From there, things turned strange.

Turner contacted the artist in New Jersey; his son verified the artworks'
authenticity, and told her to keep the prints. Turner opted to sell the
pieces to raise funds for multiple sclerosis victims.

The artist, best known for producing romance novel cover art with model
Fabio, agreed that was a worthy cause - and donated 495 limited edition
prints of a previously unreleased piece.

The gesture was expected to raise more than $400,000 for the National
Multiple Sclerosis Society as painting mixed with philanthropy on an unlikely
palette.

The cause is personal for both Turner and Pino. Turner, 43, of Layton,
Utah, was diagnosed two years ago with the chronic disease of the central
nervous system. And one of Pino's in-laws was left in a wheelchair by the
illness that affects 400,000 Americans.

''It's a great story,'' said Max Dangelico, Pino's son and business
partner. ''Thousands of people will benefit. The MS Society will benefit,
and Pino is happy.''

Each Pino print of the new work was worth $1,450, according to Dangelico.
They will be distributed through galleries nationwide, with all the money
after expenses going to the MS Society.

Turner has already raised $50,000 herself by selling Pino's works in
her home state and soliciting matching funds on each purchase from local
businesses.

''It's really hard to believe,'' said Turner, who was in Manhattan for
a weekend where she met Dangelico and society officials for the first time.

The tale began two years ago, when a shipment of Pino prints bound for
Baltimore turned up missing. The paintings - wrapped in wallpaper - eventually
reappeared in The Basement - an Ogden, Utah, store that sells misdirected,
unclaimed freight.

Thinking the wallpaper would please her daughter, Turner plunked down
her money and left on June 28. But her daughter was unimpressed, and the
canvas stayed packed away.

Once opened, though, it revealed the hidden artwork. A local art dealer
identified the work as Pino's. Her improbable partnership soon followed.

Pino - he answers to the single sobriquet - has his own back story.
Born in Italy, the artist came to the United States in 1979. He quickly
established himself as THE artist for romance novels covers, eventually
illustrating more than 3,000 books and working with a then-unknown model
named Fabio.

After 13 years in the book business, he returned to work in fine art.
That, a decade later, led to his meeting with Turner. Officials at the
MS Society were ecstatic about the whole thing.

''What Corinne has done is turn lemons into lemon meringue pie,'' said
Arney Rosenblat, spokeswoman for the MS Society. ''It really, really is
very exciting.''